Canadian Railroads > Bras d'Or Tuesday in Port Hawkesbury

Continuing with the Bras d'Or Tuesday theme (Tuesday was the day the Bras d'Or traveled from Halifax to Sydney), here are a couple shots of VIA train 618 nearing Port Hawkesbury, at 14:00 on October 15, 2002.  The excursion train made a brief stop at the "Hawk" to change crews and let passengers stretch their legs before continuing on another 4 hours or so to Sydney.  With only another 100 miles to go, the pace was relaxed enough that often an unscheduled stop would be made at Orangedale or Iona.  This was the last trip of the 2002 season, and because RailTex (or possibly Rail America by then) had applied to abandon most of the Sydney Sub, there was concern that it might be the last trip ever.

As it turned out, the Bras d'Or ran for another two summers, although present owner Genesee & Wyoming last ran a freight to Sydney in 2016.  The rails are still there, but the roadbed and other structures have been deteriorating since, with only minmal maintenance.

GTD

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CLASS!!
Uncle Joe

At least VIA Rail "got it" and "tried it" with experiential trains......

- Shortly after the Bras d'Or demise, VIA did the Ski Train of the three glass dome single level ultra domes from Edmonton to Jasper - didn't work, but they tried (Friday to Sunday). 
- Extending the Prince Rupert train to Vancouver for a bit (Prince Rupert-Jasper-Vancouver)
- The Bras d'Or
- The extra Niagara Falls Weekend round tripper, seasonal
- 4x per week operation when VIA bought the Ultra Domes from BC Rail and first launched them into service (as Totem Deluxe Class). Only lasted one or two seasons, then cut back to three days per week. VIA wanted the Skeena extended to Edmonton, access to a larger city with airport, and got denied by CN and Rocky flexing itself too.
 

Beautiful images.
Bob

Nice shots, and I have to admit that as someone who doesn't pay a lot of attention to passenger rolling stock, the way the light catches the baggage car in the going-away shot tells me there's something unusual about its origin. What was it converted from? I know it must be in an old TSG, if I knew exacty what I was looking for. The apparent former window layout doesn't seem to match a shot I have of one of the former CP baggage-dorm cars, so I can't make sense of it that way. Thanks in advance to whomever can explain this car.
Fred

feclark Wrote:
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> Nice shots, and I have to admit that as someone
> who doesn't pay a lot of attention to passenger
> rolling stock, the way the light catches the
> baggage car in the going-away shot tells me
> there's something unusual about its origin. What
> was it converted from?

VIA obtained these from Union Pacific and rebuilt during the HEP1 program. Depending on how the sun is hitting the sides.... you can still faintly read "United States Mail Railway Post Office"

(no....the cars are not that dirty. I tinted the photo to bring out the lettering)



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 10/07/20 03:50 by ghCBNS.

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